The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-11-11
THE MYSTERIOUS RAREM.
Inside View of the Sacred Mahonaetan
Institution.
From he saturday Rerie,c

IuSld0 v low Vi bLiC othCI Oh an
Institution.
From the Saturday Rerie,c
In theory the Moslem classes his women
kind with the holy of HOLES of Mecca. The
inneImost shrine of his temple and the
rooms with latticed windows are both
called by the same name of Harem or "Sa-
cred" The apartment is harem, and the
ladies who live in it are harem for all but
the lord and master. He may enter at will,
but generally announces his coming before
hand, so that he may not run the risk of
meeting female visitors who are probably
the wives Of his friends. In well regulated
houses the husband intrudeS only at fixed
hours, perhaps for short time after mid
daY prayer, and does not else favor his
harem until he retires to rest. Home life.
such as we understand IT, can scarcely be
said to exist for the Mahometan. The man
lives in and at his work outside, and the
woman among her slaves and friends in the
harem. The most interesting view of the
home life of the harem is when it is consid-
cred as the cradle in which Eastern man.
hood is reared. Schools of any kind are
few and meagerly patronized, and board
ing schools are unknown. A few bows are
sent to Paris, Constantinople or Syria to be
educated, but the majority grow up among
slave girls and servants, seeing a great deal
which they ought not to see, and learning
very little of what they should 1t is small
wonder, then, that the better moral quail
ties, if any were ever Unborn, are rapidly
obliterated, and the boy grows up to tire
man saturated with vice and effeminacy
The women occupants of the harem are the
wife or wives and the female slaves Per-
haps on no subject does greater misconcep-
ton prevail than on this of harem slavery.
The field, however, is too wide a one to be
touched on more than incidentally
The name of slave as applied to the Geor-
gian or Circassian girl is misnomer. She
occupies more the position of friend, or at
least of lady's companion, if she does not,
rs is often the case, become an adopted
daughter of the house. She is well and
sometimes extensively dressed, and shares
the small amusements of her mistress at the
theatre, the moolid or the promenade. Now
and then the lady may fly in passion and
soundly box the girls ears or pull out a
handful of hair; but a reconciliation soon
takes place and is usually cemented with
present of jewelry or a new dress.
The principal diversion of harem life con-
sists in the visits of friends and of a PERM
cious class of trading women who hawk
about articles of dress and gewgaws from
one house to another, retailing the latest
gossip and scandal with their wares and as
sisting the ladies to get into all manner of
scrapes Wise women who tell fortunes by
cards and incantations are also in great de
mand and their Vaccinations are as a rule,
believed in by the ladies with much the same
delightful and blind confidence as is Civ
en- by farmers daughters to the mysterious
prophesies of the gypsieS. Now and then con-
dign punishment awaits these hays, as in the
case of the notorious Ayesha, who, several
years ago, was called for one night, hustled
into carriage under pretense of visiting a
great harem, and has never since been heard
of. But, as a rule, their sorceries, evil eyes
and charms are perfectly harmless, and
when there is nothing better to do they are
called In to beguile the heavy hours. Nor
must the men singers be left out in the cata-
logue of delights of the harem-a delight,
nevertheless, which is but sparingly INDUCED
in, and can only be enjoyed to the full when
the harems lord is away.
A notion seems generally prevalent in
Europe that if only the harem doors were
opened a rush for liberty would immedi-
ately take place, and many are the sym
pathles wasted on the supposed prisoners of
the Mahometan marriage tie. In reality
both men and women consider their state
far superior to that OF Europeans. The
man argues thus: ''You are a slave from
the moment you marry. You cannot go
out to lunch or dinner or to your friends
L
cannot even leave her alone for few hours
without giving an account of yourself
Such state of things would be unbearable
to me. | go where / like and she goes
where she likes. | psy my servants to look
after her, and | am sure that she is not
flirting with other men when am not by
her SIDE. You are never sure of this" etc.
This is his line of argument
The woman says: MY religion forbids
me to look upon other men than my hus-
band. If l changed my religion perhaps |
would like to mix up with every fellow |
come across, but as long as | am Mahome-
dan detest the thought of it. l cover my
face from the sight of the world as your
women cover their bodies. As to being
watched and guarded, it is a compliment
which shows how much my husband cares
for me. If he were to leave me to do what
l liked, should know he did not care for
me and should feel deeply insulted.n
1t is difficult for the Western mind fully
to grasp the immense gulf between our ideas
and theirs Their reasoning is fallacious
and almost ridiculous from our standpoint
but it is good enough from theirs And
therefore as 10 as the Mahometan religion
lasts so long will the harem exist And its
existence is, on the whole, happy and con-
tented one, in spite of all the reasoning
which may be brought to show that it
ought to be miserable Centuries of COM
munion and contact with Europeans NAV
possibly change the ideas born and cult
waited in the harem, but there is as vet no
sign whatever of such change. Up to the
present no appreciable difference is notice
able III the domestic economy of the Mos
lem